Neighbourhood health risk

Link between socioeconomic status and diabetes

Researchers from Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center have found a driect link between neighbourhood socioeconomic status and risk for type 2 diabetes in African American women. Recent studies indicated that the socioeconomic characteristics of a neighbourhood can affect health status independent of socioeconomic status of an individual. Neighbourhood environment influences diet and physical activity through the availability of grocery stores, recreational facilities and educational resources. In addition, neighbourhoods vary with regard to sources of chronic stress (noise, violence and poverty).

Senior author of the paper Julie Palmer, ScD, a senior epidemiologist at the Slone Epidemiology Center said: ‘Our findings indicate that the risk of type 2 diabetes for African-American women is influenced not just by individual characteristics, but by the characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which they live.’  Type 2 diabetes is estimated to affect 20.6 million people in the United States and has particularly impacted African-American women, who are twice as likely to have the disease as non-Hispanic whites. The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Source: HealthCanal.com, 8 February 2010.

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